The Governing Law

The cancellation of a Power of Attorney is governed by UAE Federal Law No. 5 of 1985, the Civil Transactions Law of the United Arab Emirates, as amended by Federal Decree-Law No. 30 of 2020. The agency provisions sit at Articles 924 to 961 of the Civil Code. A Power of Attorney is, in legal terms, an instrument of agency (wakala), and the rules governing the agency relationship govern the document that creates it.

Article 924 defines agency as “a contract whereby the principal establishes another person in place of himself in a known permissible act.” Article 925 sets out the capacity requirements: both principal and agent must be of sound mind and of the age of majority. Article 927 distinguishes general from special agency, with general agency covering every matter that is acceptable for representation and special agency limited to specific matters.

The notarisation procedure that gives the cancellation its formal effect is governed by Federal Decree-Law No. 20 of 2022 on the Profession of Notary Public, which replaced Federal Law No. 4 of 2013. The decree-law recognises both Public Notaries and Private Notaries and gives legal effect to electronic notarisation. Cabinet Resolution No. 16 of 2024 contains the implementing executive regulations.

The Right to Revoke (Article 955)

Article 955 is the operative provision on revocation. It reads:

“The principal may dismiss the agent at any time unless the dismissal affects rights vested in the agent or third parties. Such dismissal must be notified to the agent; otherwise, it shall not be effective against him or third parties acting in good faith.”

The article does three things in a single provision. It confers on the principal an unqualified right to dismiss the agent at any time, without requiring the agent’s consent and without requiring cause. It preserves vested rights, meaning that if the agent or a third party has acquired a right under the agency that the dismissal would extinguish, the dismissal does not prejudice that right. And it conditions the effectiveness of dismissal on notice: until notice has been given, the dismissal does not bind the agent or third parties acting in good faith.

Article 958 is referenced in legal commentary as a further confirmation of the principal’s right to revoke, and may be cited alongside Article 955 where the right is in issue.

Automatic Termination (Article 954)

Article 954 provides that agency terminates automatically on the death or legal incapacity of either the principal or the agent. No revocation deed is required for termination on these grounds; the termination is by operation of law. UAE law does not recognise a Lasting Power of Attorney equivalent that survives the principal’s loss of capacity. The death of the principal ends the authority of the agent, and the death of the agent ends the appointment.

Expiry by Term

Where the original Power of Attorney states a validity period, the document expires automatically on the stated date. No separate revocation procedure is required for an expired Power of Attorney, although notice to the agent and to relevant third parties may still be appropriate to remove practical reliance on the document.

Resignation by the Agent

The agent may also withdraw from the appointment. The procedural mechanism is similar to revocation by the principal: the agent executes a notarised notice of withdrawal, which is registered with the issuing notary and served on the principal. The legal effect is the termination of the agency from the agent’s side.

The Three Routes Compared

Revocation is the active termination by the principal; it requires a deed, notarisation, and notice. Automatic termination is termination by operation of law on death or incapacity; it requires no deed but typically requires evidentiary documentation to be acted upon by registrars and counterparties. Expiry is termination by the document’s own terms; it requires no further act but, where notice will prevent practical confusion, notice is advisable.

The Practical Implication

The legal authority to bring a Power of Attorney to an end is one question; the practical effectiveness of having done so is another. Article 955 makes that distinction explicit by tying effectiveness to notice. The remainder of this site addresses the procedural and notification mechanisms that bridge the legal authority and the practical result.

Execution

Drafting and notarisation of cancellation deeds, including the registration steps that follow, are handled at poas.ae.